Jeans Half Apron Tutorial

I couldn't help myself. I had to make another apron tutorial. I vowed I wouldn't do anymore after last year but I miss them! I love creating aprons. I can't take all the credit for this. I got the idea from my niece Angelic's Spring Sassy Apron. It was just so sweet and simple. I had to make one and I thought you might like making one too.

Supplies:
an old pair of jeans (actually just one leg)
Scraps of fabric
1 1/2 to 2" Ribbon (optional)

The instructions - (I won't be giving exact measurements because I didn't really make them and you can tailor this to fit what you have on hand.)


1. Cut the leg off an old pair of jeans and cut the inside leg seam open. Lay the leg out flat.

2. Fold the fabric in half and trim off the leg hem. I measured down 18 inches and made a straight cut. This is easily done with rotary cutting tools.


3. You will notice that one side of the pant leg is wider than the other. Trim them up so they are even.

This is what it should look like now.


4. Fold the sides under and top stitch to finish the edge.

5. Cut a piece of fabric the width of the top of your apron plus about 2 inches or so. I cut mine about 6 inches wide. This will be your waist band.


6. Take your waist band piece and fold it in half lengthwise and press. Then fold each of the long sides in about 1/2" to 3/4" and press. Sandwich the apron top inside of this band now. Take the ends and fold them over the apron top and then fold the band piece down. I know that sounds confusing but I hope the picture shows this.


7. Cut two pieces of wide ribbon for the ties (about 32" long each) and sandwich them into the layers of your waist band. Top stitch all the way around the band to secure everything.


8. For the quick pleat ruffle, fold the apron bottom in half. Fold it in half again. Fold it in half one more time. :o) Yes three times. Now press it really hard with your iron.
I cut out a ruffle piece that was about 5 inches wide by the width of my fabric. (that was the size scrap I had so I used it.) Hem one long side of it and the two short ends by folding under and stitching. Fold this ruffle in half three times like you did the apron bottom. Press it very well with a hot iron.


9. When you unfold the apron bottom, quickly pin where the creases are or they will disappear quickly.


10. Unfold the ruffle piece and pin it to the bottom of the apron matching up the crease lines.


11. Eyeball the pleats now which ever direction you want them to lay. Have fun. I made box pleats.

12. I almost forgot the pocket. I cut out two 7" squares from my fabric scraps. I sewed around the edges leaving a hole to turn the pocket. I top stitched across the top of the apron and the pinned it in place where I wanted it and stitched it in place. I like my pocket on the right side because I am right handed. I think the pocket looks better on the left for some reason but works better on the right for right handed people.


13. To finish off your ties, cut the ribbon at a 45 deg. angle. You must seal the edge or it will ravel really bad. You can do this by running it quickly over a flame from a lighter or a match. I just couldn't take a picture and demo it. :o)

Now you are done!



Ruffle detail.

Ok Now that you made it all the way to the end, I have a treat for you. I just love this apron. I would like to share one with one of my many bloggies. So in honor of my Birthday on Tuesday, I am going to make another one of the puppies and offer it to one of my bloggies. What I will do is post a picture of it on Tuesday morning and I will watch all the posts that day. At midnight, I will put all your names in a pot and pick a lucky winner that I will ship my apron off to to celebrate my birthday. I can't wait to see which of my blog land friends gets to have the sassy jeans apron.


****Edited May 26, 2009 *****

Dear bloggers,

I have had some questions asked about how to make this apron just a little wider. This might be necessary if the jeans you are using are not really big. I use rather large men's jeans because that is what I have access to.
To widen the apron simply cut off the other pant leg of the jeans. Cut it as long as the desired apron. Cut the let seams open and trim up the pieces so you have two equal sized pieces. Simple add each of the pieces to the sides of the apron and sew them on. Then follow the tutorial as normal. You will now have a much wider apron with a very similar look to the ones in the pictures.
Hope that helps!

Avocado Pie - April PPP

Yes that is Avocado Pie and it is really pretty good.
Why avocado pie? Because my Flirty Apron Swap Partner Nicola sent me a bunch of Avocados and I have been trying other recipes with them.
Here is the Pie recipe.

Avocado Pie

INGREDIENTS:
1 (9 inch) prepared graham
cracker crust
2 avocados - peeled, pitted and
pureed
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 (5 ounce) can sweetened
condensed milk

I prepared the pie crust and browned it in the oven (the March Pie has a crust recipe)
The I put the lemon juice, milk and avocados in the food processor and blended it till it was smooth. Pour this in the pie shell and chill in the fridge till ready to serve.
I served it with whipped cream on top.
This is an unusual pie. The flavor is light and fresh. Tart and sweet.

Mother's Day Give Away

I am posting this for my friend Jan. She has a lovely apron shop where she sells aprons, tea pots, tea cozies, cookie cutter and more.

Here is what she is doing.
Jan has set up a Mother's Day Giveaway on her blog.
She will be sending out this lovely apron to a lucky winner.

She is also including this teapot set and cookie cutters.


How do you get in on this wonderful giveaway?
Go to Jan's site and follow her directions.

I can tell you that her aprons are simply wonderful.
I have one. hee hee! I love it.
Jan was my secret partner for the Flirty Apron Swap.
She took a peek at my blog here and somehow figured out that I love chickens. She made me this lovely chicken apron.

I wear it every chance I get. It is so fun, covers everything and is dark so I can use it for what ever I am cooking without stain worries. :o)
You should go check out her blog and store. Her aprons would make wonderful Mother's day gifts, birthday gifts, or just a treat for you!

The Summer Sassy Apron Swap

Little Plug Here.
The Summer 2008 Session of the Sassy Apron Swap is now open over at The Sassy Apron Swap.

The sign ups are open till April 15th unless we get to many people and that might happen. We are almost at 100 on day 3. I am just posting it here for some of my regulars that have been asking and wanted a warning that it was up and running.

Flirty Apron ?

Here is my contribution to the Flirty Apron Swap. I messed around with my design a bit and changed the ruffle. I needed something flirty for a 50+ grandma with little grand kids.


Is it flirty enough? It is on it's way to the Sassy Grandma. I really love the cookie jar fabric.

Key Lime Pie - PPP - March

My dear friend Rachel of the Country Cupboard Bakery suggested the pie for this month. She said she had tried Key Lime Pie once and thought it was lovely and wondered if I knew how to make it. Well, no but I could try.
Rachel runs this little Mennonite Bakery just down the road from my house, out in the middle of no where in South West Missouri. She has the most wonderful goodies there. Here Cinnamon Rolls are famous and positively sinful!!! She also stocks Jam from Das Jam Shop that is a local Mennonite Jam factory. They jams are simply divine! I love them!

On to the pie.... When looking up ideas I had some rules in mind.
It had to be tasty,
It had to be easy,
and it had to have reasonable ingredients.

Here is what I came up with.


(sorry this is the only photo, I meant to take a lovely picture of a slice of pie topped with whipped cream and a slice of lime but it is all gone. Once we cut into it we forgot all about photographing it and just snarfed it down.)

Key Lime Pie for Rachel

4 egg yolks
2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
1 cup Lime juice (key limes if you can get them and fresh if possible)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp lime zest (optional as lime zest can be bitter)
1 - 9" pie graham cracker crust

1. Pre-bake your graham cracker crust.

2. Pre-heat oven to 370 deg. F.

3. Combine egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, sour cream, and lime zest. Mix well and pour into your pie shell.

4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

5. Allow to cool. Top with Whipped Cream, garnish with lime slices, and enjoy!

There you have it, easy, fast, and good!

Easy Graham Cracker Crust

1 package graham crackers (9-8 whole crackers), or 1 1/3 cup crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
Mix very well, pat into pie pan and bake at 375 deg F for 8 minutes.


Note: You can use 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime juice. If doing that, I would use lemon zest instead. It tastes so much better.
Also if using farm fresh eggs, you will not get a greenish pie. It will be yellow. :o)

Oh I almost forgot to add the squeezing key limes is hard!! I was going nuts with my citrus juicer until I remembered my garlic press. I cut the limes in quarters and put them in there. It still took a while to get 1 cup of lime juice but my hands weren't killing me when I finished!

March PPP - Carrot Pincushion Tutorial

These pincushions just make me happy! I love carrots.


This should be a fast, easy, and painless tutorial. (if I don't talk too much)

1. Make yourself a carrot template. You want a pie shaped piece. The angle of this triangle is about 45 deg. The sides are 9 inches long and the top is about 7 inches across. These are abouts. You want to make sure that the top side is curved like a pie piece though.


2. Cut out your carrot.



3. Fold the carrot in half and stitch along the long side. 1/4" seam allowance.



4. Turn the carrot right side out. To get the point you are really going to have to dig it out with a pin or something. Be careful and don't push too hard and rip you carrot tip.



5. Stuff the carrot. Start by putting tiny pieces in there and packing them in tight. You can then add bigger pieces but pack them in tight and keep squeezing and re-shaping the carrot as you go. You really want it tight.


6. Take strong thread and make a gathering stitch across the top of the carrot. Pull it tight and stitch it in place and tie it off.



7. Tear off a strip of green fabric about 1" by about 12". Fold it in half and knot it near the ends.



8. Stitch the carrot stem in place securely.


You're done!

What's in Your Easter Basket?

I went out to share some day old bread with my chickens today and brought in a little bundle of warm, wonderful, colorful eggs.

If you look carefully you can see that the one at the bottom right is green! I am so excited.
Bryan bought several colored egg layers last year and they are finally laying a basket of colored eggs for us. The egg in the center isn't white but next to the others it sure looks white. We do have a couple of white egg layers in the bunch too. The yolks of these eggs are simply gorgeous. They are almost orange they are so dark. I made vanilla ice cream yesterday with fresh eggs and fresh milk from the cow and it was golden yellow in color and OH MY GOODNESS was it tasty.
Here are my Fine Hens.


I had to add this to my cornucopia of farmy goodness.

I just made our first batch of butter for this Spring. It is so tasty on the fresh whole wheat bread I made last night.
Here's the bread recipe.

Farm Fresh Bread

6 cups hot milk (heat on the stove)
4 Tbsp yeast
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
6 eggs (I actually used duck eggs)
6 tsp salt
3/4 cup ground flax seed
1 1/2 cups old fashion rolled oats
16-18 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour (I use hard white wheat but red is good too.)

Mix everything together and kneed until the dough is pulling away from the sides of the bowl. The dough might be a bit sticky.
Cover and let rise for an hour in a warm place. (I always keep checking on it and punch it down and flip it around at this stage, I just can't leave it alone.)
Punch the dough down again and divide into 6 loaves. Place in greased bread pans.

Bake at 400 deg F for about 25 minutes. If you are using glass or stoneware pans you might have to add 5 more minutes or so. I usually use metal pans.

This is a large batch so I usually freeze a lot of it and take out the loaves as we need them. This reduces the number of times I have to bake bread in a week.

For Amanda

This winter my niece Rebecca had me help her finish up some of Christmas sewing. Of course I helped because it was for her Fabulous sister Amanda.
I made her a Sassy Apron of her own. It is just like my Sassy Little Aprons but this one is larger just like the one I made for myself.
This apron is double sided so here is side A with Poison Dart Frogs for when Amanda is brewing up her favorite poison.

And here is her other side which reminds me of Van Gough. This side only has 2 frogs for when Amanda feels much less poisonous.

Yes, you can read a woman by her apron. hee hee

Doll Swap Recieved

I got my doll!!! I was so excited. It came this weekend in a lovely red polka-dot package. It was so exciting. My lovely swap partner is the very talented Cheryl from Artsy Fartsy.
Here is my lovely Beary (Bear Fairy).

She is just shy of 9 inches tall. She is made of real vintage fabric (made from a little girl's blouse). She is just darling! I am so happy. She is MINE! Yes I will let some little girls hold her from time to time when they are very clean and being Oh so good. hee hee. They actually seem to like that Mommy has Dollies too and that they have to earn the privilege of touching them and playing in my room with them. It makes the dollies so much more special.
My swap partner also sent my a lovely vintage apron. It is faux smocked on red cotton gingham.

I just love it. I have always wanted one of these. I showed it to my mom and she just went nuts and said that this style of apron was all the rage when she was a teen and that she had made one for herself that was set on point. She was so excited and really loved handling it and remembering happy times. Thank you Cheryl!

Easters Early

I have some little Easter Friends that I have moved over to my Etsy store. They are ready to ship out Priority mail to new homes in time for Easter if ordered by Tuesday, March 18th.
Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail have grown up and have bunnies of their own.
Sorry, Cottontail has been sold.


and their friend Mama Pig and Mrs Mouse.
sorry, mama pig has been sold.



Sorry but Miss Flopsy already made it off to a new home, but the rest are here and ready to go.

Macaroons

Sorry, I can hear my dad in my head saying, "Macarooneyroons."



My mother has been craving Macaroons for a few weeks now. I can't do a whole lot to make her life better, but I can try to fill these little wishes for her. She had a few specifics in mind too. She wanted a good fresh macaroon that was crispy but soft in the center. Well, we went on a search and do you know that none of the stores around us have any. So I started searching recipes. She has fond memories of Macaroons from childhood and I wanted to find as authentic a recipe as I could. I figured that the recipes that call for sweetened condensed milk couldn't be right. So I searched some more and came up with this one. I love it and so does she. It is crispy and soft and isn't very sweet so you enjoy the great toasty coconut flavor.

Macaroons

14 oz unsweetened flaked coconut (the longer shreds work better and have the right feel)
2/3 cup sugar
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
6 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt

Pre-heat the oven to 320 deg. F.
Mix the coconut, sugar, flour and salt together and set aside.
Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff. Add the vanilla and fold in.
Fold in the dry ingredients.
Drop batter onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper (about 1-2 Tbsp).
Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
Cool and serve.
Store in a zipper bag to keep them from drying out too much.

Book Tag

I've been tagged..... (my sister Mary Tagged me)

1. Pick up the nearest book (with at least 123 pages)

2. Turn to page 123

3. Find the 5th sentence

4. Post the next three sentences

5. Tag 5 people

" 'What was that he was saying about the Doctor's family?' I asked innocently.
'The Cullens? Oh they're not supposed to come onto the reservation."

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.



I am reading this book for our local book group. I don't know what I think of it yet. I just started and have to finish it by the 13th.

I tag:
Angelic
Rebecca L
Jill Mc.
Josie
and
You!

Miss Eliza

Well I went nuts last month and signed up for a Doll swap at 2:00 A.M. When I got up in the morning at 8:00 A.M. I choked because I realized that I had joined into a group way out of my league. I thought it was a rag doll swap. Sooooo I have panicked and fussed all month trying to come up with a doll worthy of the swap. Here is what I made.

Her name is Miss Eliza Lizard. She is dressed for tea. Who will invite her to come?

She is going to go visit Miss Cheryl. I hope she likes Eliza.


Ok I got a hold of photo shop and I wasted an hour. I need some tutorials!

Sassy Apron Swap - Spring Apron Recieved

I got my apron today!!!
Can you tell I am excited? Bryan took a picture of me in it and then I found these that Robin already took and decided to spare you my fatness.
My partner is Robin of Tallulah Sophie.
She makes beautiful aprons. Go check her sites out and give her some blogging love!
She made me the most wonderful Gardening apron. It is chuck full of pockets. I am always needing more pockets to put things when I am out in the garden.

She also included a Chili recipe, some flower seed packets, a garden angel, and a Tin box bucket.

Sassy Apron Swap - Spring Apron

Well I finished my apron for the Sassy Apron Swap and have it ready to ship off today.
The requirements for the apron were that it must be spring themed, have a pocket, and come with a soup recipe.

My partner is tall and has a liking for Japanese fabric. This apron came from a Japanese apron book my nephew brought back from Osaka for me. The pockets are made from Scrap Kimono fabric from his great Aunt's Kimono shop in Osaka.

I made the apron out of light weight linen. I added the blossoms at the neckline to add a touch of spring.

I hope my partner likes it. :o)

Child at Play

My sister Kathy sent me this link today. It is very interesting. I have felt that we need to look much more closely at our children’s play or the lack there of. I have a degree in Early Childhood Education and am always fascinated by how children interact with each other and with their environment. If you read nothing else on my blog, please do read this article. They make a strong point about the toys introduced on TV but I also feel that the introduction of the Mickey Mouse Show started a major change in our children's play behavior because their imaginative time was replaced by structured programming, limiting the children's imaginative play abilities.
Read the article and tell me what you think.
Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills
by Alix Spiegel

Morning Edition, February 21, 2008 · On October 3, 1955, the Mickey Mouse Club debuted on television. As we all now know, the show quickly became a cultural icon, one of those phenomena that helped define an era.
What is less remembered but equally, if not more, important, is that another transformative cultural event happened that day: The Mattel toy company began advertising a gun called the "Thunder Burp."
I know — who's ever heard of the Thunder Burp?
Well, no one.
The reason the advertisement is significant is because it marked the first time that any toy company had attempted to peddle merchandise on television outside of the Christmas season. Until 1955, ad budgets at toy companies were minuscule, so the only time they could afford to hawk their wares on TV was during Christmas. But then came Mattel and the Thunder Burp, which, according to Howard Chudacoff, a cultural historian at Brown University, was a kind of historical watershed. Almost overnight, children's play became focused, as never before, on things — the toys themselves.
"It's interesting to me that when we talk about play today, the first thing that comes to mind are toys," says Chudacoff. "Whereas when I would think of play in the 19th century, I would think of activity rather than an object."
Chudacoff's recently published history of child's play argues that for most of human history what children did when they played was roam in packs large or small, more or less unsupervised, and engage in freewheeling imaginative play. They were pirates and princesses, aristocrats and action heroes. Basically, says Chudacoff, they spent most of their time doing what looked like nothing much at all.
"They improvised play, whether it was in the outdoors… or whether it was on a street corner or somebody's back yard," Chudacoff says. "They improvised their own play; they regulated their play; they made up their own rules."
But during the second half of the 20th century, Chudacoff argues, play changed radically. Instead of spending their time in autonomous shifting make-believe, children were supplied with ever more specific toys for play and predetermined scripts. Essentially, instead of playing pirate with a tree branch they played Star Wars with a toy light saber. Chudacoff calls this the commercialization and co-optation of child's play — a trend which begins to shrink the size of children's imaginative space.
But commercialization isn't the only reason imagination comes under siege. In the second half of the 20th century, Chudacoff says, parents became increasingly concerned about safety, and were driven to create play environments that were secure and could not be penetrated by threats of the outside world. Karate classes, gymnastics, summer camps — these create safe environments for children, Chudacoff says. And they also do something more: for middle-class parents increasingly worried about achievement, they offer to enrich a child's mind.
Change in Play, Change in Kids
Clearly the way that children spend their time has changed. Here's the issue: A growing number of psychologists believe that these changes in what children do has also changed kids' cognitive and emotional development.
It turns out that all that time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate. Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.
We know that children's capacity for self-regulation has diminished. A recent study replicated a study of self-regulation first done in the late 1940s, in which psychological researchers asked kids ages 3, 5 and 7 to do a number of exercises. One of those exercises included standing perfectly still without moving. The 3-year-olds couldn't stand still at all, the 5-year-olds could do it for about three minutes, and the 7-year-olds could stand pretty much as long as the researchers asked. In 2001, researchers repeated this experiment. But, psychologist Elena Bodrova at the National Institute for Early Education Research says, the results were very different.
"Today's 5-year-olds were acting at the level of 3-year-olds 60 years ago, and today's 7-year-olds were barely approaching the level of a 5-year-old 60 years ago," Bodrova explains. "So the results were very sad."
Sad because self-regulation is incredibly important. Poor executive function is associated with high dropout rates, drug use and crime. In fact, good executive function is a better predictor of success in school than a child's IQ. Children who are able to manage their feelings and pay attention are better able to learn. As executive function researcher Laura Berk explains, "Self-regulation predicts effective development in virtually every domain."
The Importance of Self-Regulation
According to Berk, one reason make-believe is such a powerful tool for building self-discipline is because during make-believe, children engage in what's called private speech: They talk to themselves about what they are going to do and how they are going to do it.
"In fact, if we compare preschoolers' activities and the amount of private speech that occurs across them, we find that this self-regulating language is highest during make-believe play," Berk says. "And this type of self-regulating language… has been shown in many studies to be predictive of executive functions."
And it's not just children who use private speech to control themselves. If we look at adult use of private speech, Berk says, "we're often using it to surmount obstacles, to master cognitive and social skills, and to manage our emotions."
Unfortunately, the more structured the play, the more children's private speech declines. Essentially, because children's play is so focused on lessons and leagues, and because kids' toys increasingly inhibit imaginative play, kids aren't getting a chance to practice policing themselves. When they have that opportunity, says Berk, the results are clear: Self-regulation improves.
"One index that researchers, including myself, have used… is the extent to which a child, for example, cleans up independently after a free-choice period in preschool," Berk says. "We find that children who are most effective at complex make-believe play take on that responsibility with… greater willingness, and even will assist others in doing so without teacher prompting."
Despite the evidence of the benefits of imaginative play, however, even in the context of preschool young children's play is in decline. According to Yale psychological researcher Dorothy Singer, teachers and school administrators just don't see the value.
"Because of the testing, and the emphasis now that you have to really pass these tests, teachers are starting earlier and earlier to drill the kids in their basic fundamentals. Play is viewed as unnecessary, a waste of time," Singer says. "I have so many articles that have documented the shortening of free play for children, where the teachers in these schools are using the time for cognitive skills."
It seems that in the rush to give children every advantage — to protect them, to stimulate them, to enrich them — our culture has unwittingly compromised one of the activities that helped children most. All that wasted time was not such a waste after all.